Razor blade stropper



Patented May 17, 1949 RZRVBLADISTROPPER EawaraJ.- Gray, NewYork, N. Y.

" Amincaticn-May 1s, 194e;1 serial No; `670,749

2 Claims.

f *"fThe `invention relates tio ade'v-ice for-stropping safety razorblades.

Where the safety razor blade is removed from the holder for stropping,there is danger of injury to the user in this time-consuming operation.Moreover, such stroppers become dirty and lose eicacy due to wear. Whenthe safety razor does not admit of removal of the blade therefrom, theproblem of stroppin-g has heretofore baffled solution.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide a simple,self-cleaning device that is capable of stropping any safety razor bladequickly and effectively without removing the blade from its holder andwhich inherently will indicate when the stropping device should bereplaced by a new one.

According to the invention, these objects are accomplished by the use ofa pointed metal pin to be guided by the guard of a safety razor holderfor light rubbing movement along the edge of the razor blade to bestropped in situ in said holder. The pin desirably has a handle knobserving as a plug or stopper which holds the pin in a container withsunicient lubricating oil therein to submerge the pointed end of thestropping pin.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possibleembodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view of the device,

Fig. 2 is a detailed View showing the stropping operation, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary View showing the stropping operation.

Referring now to the drawings, a pin I I, preferably of metal of aslightly less degree of hardness than that of the conventional safetyrazor blade is afxed at its root end I2 to a stopper or handle I3. Thepin is tapered at approximately a 15 degree angle as at I4 so as to forma finely pointed tip I5. The taper of the pin conforms to the correctangle for straightening the edge of any safety razor blade I'I whileheld in situ in a safety razor holder I8. Stopper I3 fits securely inthe mouth of a container or bottle I9 containing a lubricating oil 20which serves as a cleaner for the pin and in use has the furtherfunction pointed out hereinafter. As the pin picks up some of thelubricating oil on each use, the number of uses of the pin is limited bythe quantity of lubricating oil in the container.

Operation When not in use, container I9, which holds -nhefllubncatmgoirvz-u and the fpm-'1| Iris `securely closed by means of stopper [3.Before each shave, pin II is withdrawn from the container I9 carryingwith it a small quantity of lubricating oil 20.

The tip I5 of the pin is placed between the edge I6 of the safety razorblade I1 and the guard ,2| of the safety razor holder I8 until arrestedby the blade and the handle I3 tilted downward slightly until arrestedbetween the guard 2l and the blade edge I6, so that the conical portion22 of the pin is in contact with substantially the entire width of theground edge I6 of the blade at its underface. The ne point or tip I5 ofthe pin reduces the danger of the pin contacting and injuring thecutting edge while it is being inserted thereunder. The pin is rubbedlightly along the underside of the blade edge IB, one or more timesthereby straightening and smoothing the ground edge of the blade thathad been distorted by previous use. The small quantity of lubricatingoil on the pin makes the stropping action more effective and reduces therate of wear of the pin tip caused by the metal to metal contact of thepin and razor blade.

Thus, the stropping pin utilizes the guard of the safety razor holder,both as a gauge for automatically aligning the conical tip of the pin sothat it is in proper position with respect to the ground edge of therazor blade for eflicient stropping action and as a guide for the pintip as it is being passed lightly along the underside of the blade edge.As shown in Fig. 3, the conical portion 22 of the pin is in contact withthe entire width of the undersurface of the ground edge I6 of the razorblade. The resiliency of the razor blade will cause the ground edge I6to make such contact even though the position of the pin tip may varyslightly from the ideal position shown in Fig. 3 or depart therefrom inthe course of the stropping operation. This will impart continuity anduniform smoothness to the ground edge of the razor blade.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of stropping safety razor blades mounted in a safety razorblade holder, which consists of placing the finely pointed tip of a pinof hardened material between the underside of a safety razor blade edgemounted in said holder and the guard of said holder directly beneathsaid razor edge so that the conical portion of said pin is in contactwith the underside of said razor edge, and lightly rubbing said conicalportion of said tip along said razor edge one or more times prior toeach use of said razor blade.

2. The method of stropping safety razor blades mounted in a safety razorblade holder, which consists of placing the iinely pointed tip of alubricated pin of hardened material between the underside of a safetyrazor blade edge mounted in said holder and the guard of said holderdirectly beneath said razor edge until arrested by said blade edge, andtilting the end of said pin downward slightly until arrested betweensaid guard and said blade edge so that the conical portion of said pinis in contact with substantially the 4 entire width of the ground edgeof the blade at its underface, and lightly rubbing said conical portionof said tip along said razor edge one or more times prior to each use ofsaid razor blade.

EDWARD J. GRAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

